Summer Language Packets

Here are some ideas for fun activities to do over the summer to work on language and vocabulary growth that dont require any special materials other than things around the house Reading: Always start with the basics, reading is a WONDERFUL way to stimulate language development. It introduces them to new vocabulary, sequencing, grammar/syntax, and a bunch of other language skills (and their teachers are probably already asking them to read over the summer) Reading to your child or having them read to you about high interest topics For younger children, make sure to pick books with detailed pictures that you can talk about Ask questions about the pictures or what is happening in the story to build comprehension and question answering skills. Introduce new words including nouns, actions, and descriptive terms (Oh look! The spotted cheetah is chasing (rather than running) after the gazelle! Who do you think is faster?) Have your child retell the story or describe the pictures to you too! Show & Tell: Have your child find things around the house or outside (not just toys and games) dont forget about the bathroom, the kitchen, the lanai, the yard, or places you go on trips Have them share details about the objects (what it looks like, where they found it, what parts it has, what it feels/smells like, what its used for, etc) Get siblings involved and have them ask more questions to get more details (What is it made out of? Where else could you find that?, etc) Same-Different Game: Find two pictures/objects and talk about how they are the same (They both .) and how they are different (The ____ has ____ and the ____ has ____) Encourage them to think of new and interesting similarities and differences (baseball/basketball: yes they are both balls but they are also both round/spheres, they are used to play sports; one is white and one is orange, but a baseball is also smaller, has stitches, is harder, doesnt bounce, etc) A worksheet with a few ideas is provided but the possibilities are endless when you start picking up objects around the house or when you are on outings

Make Category Collages On a piece of paper, write a category name (vehicles, fruits, furniture) and have your child find different pictures from magazines, newspapers, grocery store ads, flyers, etc that they can cut out and glue onto their sheets. For more of a challenge, make the categories harder (reptiles, cleaning supplies, things that are sticky/soft/hard, things you can find at the beach/store/etc) Keep all the papers together in a folder so they can add to the collages all summer long Talk about the pictures they are putting on the collages (look this sailboat has a sail made out of cloth that catches the wind so it can move, on a sailboat you can sit in the cabin or on the deck) Talk about how objects in each collage are the same/different (Sailboat & cruise ship: both are boats, both travel on water, cruise ships are bigger and carry lots of people, have many decks, use a motor to go while sailboats are smaller, carry a few people, and have a sail to make them go) Ask your child questions: Which vehicles can go on water? Which animal is feathery? Get in the Kitchen: We all have to eat so invite your child into the kitchen when you are cooking and let them help out This way they can work on: o Following Directions (get a spoon and stir the soup, get the bread and the knife and put peanut butter on one slice) o Vocabulary (you tell me when you see bubbles, that means the water is boiling, we need to cut/chop/slice/mince the veggies, we need to pour the batter in the pan) o Concepts: (we need to cut the onion into tiny pieces, does this look tiny or should we make it smaller?, can you get me 1/2 of a banana) o Question answering: Does a lemon taste sweet or sour? How does the peanut butter feel? Other Ideas: If you have crayons/coloring books, give your child directions for what to draw or what to add to coloring pages (after you color the frog green make a fish in the water, color her dress purple and her hair yellow)

 Play board games! This works on taking turns, rules for fair play, thinking, talking,

and vocabulary growth. Some of my favorites are: Guess Who?, Cranium, Apples to Apples Junior, iSpy, Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader, and Monopoly) Treasure Hunts: Give your child a list of things to find (something smaller than a shoe, something with sharp edges, something made of wood, etc) and have them search the house to find all of the things on the list Websites to check out: o www.activityvillage.co.uk (Free Kid Activities) o www.nurturestore.co.uk (100 Screen-free Kid Ideas) o www.speechlanguageneighborhood.com (free speech homework worksheets, games, etc) o www.pbskids.org (fun and educational games) o www.abcmouse.com o www.funschool.kaboose.com o www.kidsknowit.com Have a WONDERFUL summer vacation! Miss Lauren